Author: Kristy Bard
Podcast: Universities and the Climate Crisis with John Robinson and Jennifer Dunn
Universities are uniquely positioned to take action on the climate crisis, but an institutional culture change is needed to make sustainability an essential component of operations as well as research and education missions. CECCS Presidential Advisor and Co-Chair, Professor John Robinson, and Northwestern University Center for Engineering Sustainability and Resilience Associate Director, Professor Jennifer Dunn, explore “living lab” sustainability projects taking place on campuses such as the University of Toronto and how students at Northwestern University are taking on coursework to inform the university’s strategic sustainability plan.
Go to the Buffet Institute for Global Affairs to listen to the podcast episode
Podcast: The Whole Institution Approach
CECCS Presidential Advisor and Co-Chair, Professor John Robinson, discusses in Duurzaam Educatiepunt’s podcast the importance of a whole integrated approach—both academic and operational—for sustainability in higher education.
Go to Duurzaam Educatiepunt to listen to the podcast episode
Closed: Director, Secretariat, President’s Advisory CECCS
U of T News: U of T to divest from fossil fuel investments, create climate-positive campus
U of T recently announced to divest from all direct investments in fossil fuel companies within the next 12 months, and from indirect investments by 2030 at the latest. The University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation will allocate 10 per cent of its endowment portfolio to sustainable and low-carbon investments by 2025, and commit to an endowment portfolio that has net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
White Paper: Implications of appointed actors’ academic-operational positioning on prioritised domains for sustainability work: Insights from three universities in Europe and North America
This paper compares sustainability governance at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom and the University of Toronto. Drawing from mixed-method, qualitative case-studies of the three universities, this paper seeks to understand how the academic and/or operational positioning of sustainability actors within the institutions influence the prioritization of certain domains over others in the advancement of sustainability at the universities. The purpose of this paper is twofold:
- Help upper management and staff at universities understand the benefits and challenges according to the positioning of sustainability actors or centres within their institution’s hierarchical structure;
- provide “Sustainability in Higher Education” (SHE) academics with additional insight on recent developments of sustainability in universities.
This work was made possible by the kind donation of Wendy Adams.